StockNews.com Upgrades Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) to Strong-Buy

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Barclays raised shares of Equinor ASA to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Equinor ASA from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group raised shares of Equinor ASA from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Citigroup raised shares of Equinor ASA to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $25.80 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.90.

Equinor ASA Price Performance

NYSE:EQNR opened at $22.46 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $62.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.89, a PEG ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $25.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.66. Equinor ASA has a one year low of $22.15 and a one year high of $33.63.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $25.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.45 billion. Equinor ASA had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 19.97%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Equinor ASA will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQNR. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Equinor ASA by 2,359.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,783,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,354,000 after buying an additional 6,507,511 shares in the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in Equinor ASA during the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,203,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Equinor ASA during the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,271,000. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in Equinor ASA by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,865,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,485,000 after purchasing an additional 166,131 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in Equinor ASA by 1,334.9% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 176,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,055,000 after purchasing an additional 164,658 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

About Equinor ASA

Equinor ASA, an energy company, engages in the exploration, production, transportation, refining, and marketing of petroleum and other forms of energy in Norway and internationally. It operates through Exploration & Production Norway; Exploration & Production International; Exploration & Production USA; Marketing, Midstream & Processing; Renewables; and Other segments.